DESCRIPTION

This is a specialized POD viewer to extract embedded tests and code examples from POD. It doesn't do much more than that. pod2test does the useful work.

Parsing

After creating a Pod::Tests object, you parse the POD by calling one of the available parsing methods documented below. You can call parse as many times as you'd like, all examples and tests found will stack up inside the object.

Testing

Once extracted, the tests can be built into stand-alone testing code using the build_tests() and build_examples() methods. However, it is recommended that you first look at the pod2test program before embarking on this.

Methods

new

$parser = Pod::Tests->new;

Returns a new Pod::Tests object which lets you read tests and examples out of a POD document.

parse

$parser->parse(@code);

Finds the examples and tests in a bunch of lines of Perl @code. Once run they're available via examples() and testing().

parse_file $file

$parser->parse_file($filename);

Just like parse() except it works on a file.

parse_fh $fh

$parser->parse_fh($fh);

Just like parse() except it works on a filehandle.

tests

@testing = $parser->tests;

Returns the tests found in the parsed POD documents. Each element of @testing is a hash representing an individual testing block and contains information about that block.

$test->{code} actual testing code
$test->{line} line from where the test was taken

examples

@examples = $parser->examples;

Returns the examples found in the parsed POD documents. Each element of @examples is a hash representing an individual testing block and contains information about that block.

$test->{code} actual testing code
$test->{line} line from where the test was taken

build_tests

my @code = $p->build_tests(@tests);

Returns a code fragment based on the given embedded @tests. This fragment is expected to print the usual "ok/not ok" (or something Test::Harness can read) or nothing at all.

Typical usage might be:

my @code = $p->build_tests($p->tests);

This fragment is suitable for placing into a larger test script.

NOTE Look at pod2test before embarking on your own test building.

build_examples

my @code = $p->build_examples(@examples);

Similar to build_tests(), it creates a code fragment which tests the basic validity of your example code. Essentially, it just makes sure it compiles.

If your example has an "example testing" block associated with it it will run the the example code and the example testing block.

EXAMPLES

Here's the simplest example, just finding the tests and examples in a single module.

my $p = Pod::Tests->new;
$p->parse_file("path/to/Some.pm");

And one to find all the tests and examples in a directory of files. This illustrates building a set of examples and tests through multiple calls to parse_file().

SUPPORT

This module has been replaced by the newer Test::Inline 2. Most testing code that currently works with pod2test should continue to work with the new version. The most notable exceptions are =for begin and =for end, which are deprecated.

After upgrading, Pod::Tests and pod2test were split out to provide a compatibility package for legacy code.

pod2test will stay in CPAN, but should remain unchanged indefinately, with the exception of any minor bugs that will require squishing.

Bugs in this dist should be reported via the following URL. Feature requests should not be submitted, as further development is now occuring in Test::Inline.